Saw "The Dark Knight" this evening. It was pretty damn good, but...

[Orrex]

The trailer for Watchmen was one of the best comic book films I've ever seen.

Holy shit!

I admit that I was skeptical for a brazillion reasons. Hell, I don't even worship the original work, because Alan Moore so obviously has a boner for himself and his verbosity that it's impossible for me to slog through his wordy digressions, but I digress wordily.

The trailer was amazing! Dave Gibbons' flat, soulless art is transformed into some truly remarkable set design and cinematography.

I haven't read the graphic novel in at least seven years, but I could immediately recognize every single shot shown in the trailer. Now that's fidelity to the source-material. Rorschack looked amazing. The Silk Spectre looked amazing. Dr. Manhattan looked amazing. Hell, even the silly-looking Nite-Owl looked amazing.

The trailer showed the scene in which Archie takes flight straight out of the bay, and instead of looking like a big hairy ham with glasses, it looked amazing.

I wasn't even aware that the production was this far along. If the movie turns out to be half as good as the trailer suggests, it's going to be one hell of a film.

[DarkTirade]

1. ... and I'll whisper, "No."

Got a little chill up my spine. Let's hope it's better than most of the previous attempts to put Alan's work on film.

[Orrex]

2. I agree. But then, he hates all of them anyway

I thought that V for Vendetta was pretty solid, though not as good as the book of course. Maybe we'll get something of at least that caliber.

[DarkTirade]

3. Verily, the veracity and value of the video was valueless next to the

verbosity of the vaunted volumes.

[crimsonblue]

4. some tech blogs I frequent

are having a circle jerk over the Watchmen trailer... Cinematically, the movie looks like it wil be amazing, but acting and performance-wise, I highly doubt anyone will ever surpass DK's Joker. Ledger gave one of the all-time great film performances, IMO.

[Orrex]

5. Well, that's like saying

"Nice light bulb you've got there, but it's no hydrogen bomb."

I've been waiting for Ledger's version of the Joker since before I even found out that Michael Keaton would be playing Batman.

[crimsonblue]

6. they aren't comparable...

i agree. The Watchmen may be the most visually eye-fucking gorgeous comic book movie ever, but I will take acting any day. I was too young for the MK batman, but when I saw the movie years later, I asked my parents, "wow. people actually liked him?" Bale is the best batman ever (adam west's campiness be damned!), but I find it almost unforgivable that he uses the stupid keaton voice whilst in the suit.

[Orrex]

7. That, I believe, is referred to in the comics as "The Bat Voice"

And I agree that it seemed overplayed in this installment.

Also, you are of course correct about the necessity of acting--without it, you've got The Phantom Menace.

[crimsonblue]

9. speaking of...

I was SO goddamn pissed at Lucas for not killing Jar Jar in Ep. 3. Come on... All it takes is a 3 second lightsaber scene from Anakin, and all is well in the SW universe.

[Orrex]

10. I blame Qui-Gonn

No reason at all that he should have helped CupCup escape from the swamp-stampede. And we would have had a much stronger film as a result.

[crimsonblue]

11. yeah....

lucas killed the only good two completely new characters in ep 1. but he made up a little by giving sam jackson more time in 2 and 3... but hayden can't act.. but cgi yoda was badass and i thought the best backstory was the palpatine subplot.

[DarkTirade]

18. Yeah, that's the one thing I don't like about the Bale Batman.

Which is probably why I still think of Kevin Conroy as Batman. :P

[unpossibles]

24. over played a bit - yes, but understandable

it would suck to have people constantly say: "you sound just like Bruce Wayne, Batman!"

[Orrex]

25. I agree, but I thought that it was handled better in Batman Begins

This time out, it seemed more forced.

:shrug:

[unpossibles]

27. maybe he's up to 3 batpacks a day? nt

[jobycom]

8. Well written, even if I have no idea what you are talking about.

Guess they showed different trailers where I saw it. But now I will look for the Watchmen trailer, and I will remember--oh yes, I will--that I heard about it first from you.

[TommyO]

17. If you have iTunes, the trailer is available on the Apple store (free, of course)

[PVnRT]

12. Look at some of the set photos on the website

The corner with the newstand looks EXACTLY like it does in the novel.

[Orrex]

13. Actually, that shot was where my skepticism about the film started

I mean, sure it looks just like the novel, but it's a more or less generic set-piece on a more or less generic city street, aside from the particular magazines visible. When everyone started foaming at the mouth about it, I started to feel the same queasiness I felt when production stills were leaked prior to Burton's Batman.

That is, Burton was lauded at the time for creating his uniquely dark vision, but looking at the stills I thought "meh." And the general frenzy to pre-praise Burton for his genius made me nervous.

And when the Watchmen news stand image hit the net, I sensed a similar rush-to-praise that similarly made me nervous.



But after seeing the trailer, I'm glad to say that I'm of an entirely different mind about it.


I forgot to mention that I got to the theater as the trailer was in progress, so I didn't see the intro. The first thing that I saw was a guy looking at a watch in the palm of his hand, and I knew instantly that it was Dr. Osterman. Very cool.

[TommyO]

14. I like the fact that it wasn't pushed forward in time.

I got goosebumps when I saw the World Trade Center standing proudly!

[Orrex]

15. Yes!

The graphic novel is very much keyed to its time, and it would have been sloppy and amateurish to refit it to today (substituting Desert Storm for Viet Nam, for example).

[TommyO]

16. I really need to get a copy, it's been too long since I've read it.

[cemaphonic]

19. I have my doubts about this project

But the trailer did look damn cool. They actually managed a non-silly-looking Manhattan, which I wouldn't have thought possible.

It better have the bit with the dogs though.

[Orrex]

20. I still have reservations, as well

Every knucklehead with a favorite book always says "there's no way they can do it justice in two hours." I hate to be one of those nay-sayers, but in this case it's certainly true. They can skip everything about the pirate story and all of the "filler" between chapters, and you've still got much more than enough for 120 minutes of screen time.

The dogs are an indispensible element of Rorschak's origin, as is the kidnapping that goes with them. It will be interesting to see how they handle them, given their dark subject matter. I also wonder if they'll downplay the deific questions surrounding Manhattan, and I wonder if the film will end the way that the novel does, since Hollywood prefers its endings to give lots of upbeat closure.

But then, nothing ever ends...

[IndianaJones]

21. they are releasing a special HC trade in the next couple of months. nt.

[LanternWaste]

22. The Watchmen is THE movie event for me next year.

The Watchmen is THE movie event for me next year.

It was that graphic novel that changed my perspective and allowed me to realize that some graphic novels are more than just thick comic books.

The actors appearances seem to be spot-on; the Comedian's three-second appearance was stunning, and as for Night Owl-- I could almost sense his fatigued and world-weary aura. I'm truly grateful that none of the actors are Hollywood A-List-ers, as it will allow us to more fully concentrate on the characters rather than the actors.

I've been hunting down stills of the production over the last six months and from what I've seen, I think the cinematographer (director? set-designer? all three?) has a pretty good feel for the source material.

(I wonder about the "pirate sub-plot...)

[Pale Blue Dot]

23. My doubts have to do with the fact that "300" was an overrated, pretentious piece of crap.

I expect more of the same from Watchmen.

[Orrex]

26. Overrated? Yes. Pretentious? Maybe.

IMO too much is made about how much the film looks like the comic. That's nice and all that, but it's not enough. Ditto for Sin City, which looked very cool but in places is very nearly unwatchable (every syllable spoken by Brittany Murphy, for instance).

If Watchmen is all set design and no script, I'll wait for DVD no matter how good it looks.